PA Insurance Department Announces Quarterly Enforcement Actions

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Insurance Department's Office of Market Regulation closed 83 enforcement actions and market conduct examinations and 3,618 written consumer complaint and inquiries in the second quarter of 2012. The department also collected over $1 million in penalties, fines and restitution.

Action is taken after an investigation reveals violations of Pennsylvania laws or regulations, or after the completion of a market conduct examination. Enforcement actions conclude with the issuance of a consent order, a settlement agreement or an order and adjudication. The results of the market actions are as follows:

• Seventeen insurance licenses were suspended, revoked or surrendered to the department.
• Eighteen licenses were placed under various periods of supervision.
• Four waivers were issued, placing an individual under indefinite supervision due to a prior felony conviction.

The reasons for the actions were the result of companies and/or individuals:

• Misappropriating premium payments from policyholders;
• Forging or altering signatures of policyholder applications;
• Failing to disclose prior felony and misdemeanor convictions;
• Using and issuing marketing materials with false information;
• Doing business with an unlicensed individual or entity;
• Improperly cancelling insurance contracts;
• Using age as a factor to non-renew automobile policies; and
• Rating insurance policies while using the wrong territory codes.

Also during the second quarter, the department was a lead state in a multi-state exam of AIG, which examined whether the company violated premium reporting rules governing workers' compensation insurance. The penalty amount, which is the largest ever levied by the department, included $8.6 million in fines, $3.6 million to the Workers' Compensation Security Fund and $4.6 million in premium taxes and assessments.

A comprehensive list of enforcement actions taken by the department is available online in the consumer protection section at www.insurance.pa.gov.

Media contact:  Melissa Fox, 717-787-3289

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Insurance

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